S&P Closes Above 3200, Axsome Therapeutics Closes Offering, Conagra Beats Q2, & Nike Down In Aftermarket

The President Trump impeachment process in the House commanded the US’s attention & fancy while headlines of the USMCA deal possibly adding +.5% to US GDP caught attention too. Reuters also reported progress from the US-China trade war stating that “China unveiled a new list of tariff exemptions for U.S. imports, mostly chemical products, days after the world’s two largest economies announced the Phase 1 deal. China said the second part of the waiver list will be released at an appropriate time. Washington said the deal also includes stronger Chinese legal protections for patents, trademarks, copyrights, including improved criminal and civil procedures to combat online infringement, pirated and counterfeit goods. The two countries have reached a consensus over the protection of trade secrets, guarding intellectual property rights for pharmaceutical products, and cracking down on counterfeits and pirated goods on e-commerce platforms, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said on Friday.”

As a result, the markets were up across the board today. The S&P 500 crossed over the 3200 levels ending the day up +.45% at 3206.27, The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up +.49%. The Nasdaq was up .67% and is getting closer to the 9k level closing at 8,887.22. The Russell 2000 moved higher +.32% at the close of trading. The “fear gauge” Vix (TVIX) ended a lower at $49,86/share at the close of trading down -4.48%.

Economic Reports

On Monday we received the NAHB Housing Market Index for December rose to 76 jumping from 69 in November & the Empire State Manufacturing Survey for December also rose to 3.5.

On Tuesday, we received the total housing starts report which showed mover higher by +3.2% month/month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.365M. Total building permits came in with +1.4% month/month move higher to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.482M. Industrial production also showed a rise of +1.1% in November. The capacity utilization rate also moved higher to 77.3%. The October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey confirmed that job openings rose to 7.267M.

On Wednesday, we received the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index report that confirmed a move lower of -5% post last week’s +3.8% move.

On Thursday, we received the Existing home sales report which showed a decrease of -1.7% month/month in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35M units due to a relatively small supply & rising prices. Initial claims for the week ending December 7 came in showing an increase of 49k to the 252k level while continuing claims for the week ending November 30 went down by 31k to 1.667M. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) was flat in November after recent declines.  The Philadelphia Fed Index for December was reported at .3 significantly down from the November reading of 10.4. The current account deficit for Q3 is $124.1B  while the Q2 deficit was revised to $125.2B down from $128.2B.

Investing & Inspiration

“Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

After the Market Closed

Shares of Nike (NKE) are currently down 1.53% in the aftermarket as the company reported their Q2-2020 earnings highlighted by the following:

• Revenue: $10.3B vs. $10.08B expected
• EPS: $.70 vs. $.58 expected
• Gross margin: 44% vs. 44.1% expected

Tomorrow

The US economic scheduled brings forth the following reports:

• Personal Income and Spending for November,
• the third estimate for Q3 GDP,
• the revised University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for December